AI-Powered Navigation in Shiny MAUI Shell — Chat to Navigate, Intent to Form

What if a user could type “My furnace is broken — it’s urgent!” and your app would automatically open the work order form with the description filled in and the priority set to Urgent? Shiny MAUI Shell’s new AI integration makes this possible by extending the existing source-generated route metadata with intent descriptions.

What you’ll learn

• How [ShellMap(description:)] tells the AI when a page is relevant based on user intent signals
• How [ShellProperty("inference hint")] tells the AI how to extract parameter values from natural language
• The two-tool pattern: GetAiToolApplicableGeneratedRoutes() for discovery and NavigateToRoute() for navigation — scales to any number of pages
• How GeneratedRouteParameter includes type information, requirement flags, and inference hints for the AI
• How to wire it up with Microsoft.Extensions.AI and the generated GetAiTools() method
• The sample app: GitHub Copilot OAuth, ChatView UI, and intent-driven work order and contact forms
• Best practices for writing descriptions: describe user intent, not page names; tell AI to infer, not expect exact values